Senescent cell determination system

Abstract

A system that non-destructively and quickly determines a degree of senescence of cells to be cultured by utilizing the discovery that when cells are adhered to a surface of a culture substrate in a culture medium, the degree of cytoplasm spreading on the culture substrate is indicative of the degree of senescence. The degree of the spreading can be detected based on a result of brightness, reflectance, or image processing, and the degree of senescence is determined. It is also possible to determine the degree of senescence from a rate of the spread.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for determining senescence of a target cell, the method comprising:
 detecting a change in an area of cytoplasm of the target cell on a culture substrate; and   determining senescence of the target cell on the culture substrate using the detected change in area.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the detecting of the change in the area of cytoplasm of the target cell on the culture substrate includes detecting brightness of the target cell or reflectance of the target cell. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the change in the area of the cytoplasm is detected by a time change rate of the area. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the target cell is a myoblast. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the target cell is a cardiomyocyte, fibroblast cell, epithelial cell, endothelial cell, hepatocyte, pancreatic cell, renal cell, adrenal cell, periodontal ligament cell, gingival cell, periosteal cell, skin cell, synoviocyte, chondrocyte or a stem cell. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the target cell is derived from a skeletal muscle tissue containing CD  56  positive cells. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the detecting of the change in the area of cytoplasm of the target cell on the culture substrate includes detecting the change in the area of cytoplasm of the target cell after cell proliferation. 
     
     
         8 . A system that determines senescence of a target cell, the system comprising:
 a detection unit that detects a change in an area of cytoplasm of the target cell on a culture substrate; and   a determination unit that determines the senescence of the cell from a detection result of the detection unit.   
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 8 , wherein the determination unit determines the senescence from the change in the area after adhesion of the target cell to the culture substrate. 
     
     
         10 . The system according to  claim 8 , wherein the detection unit detects the change in the area of the cytoplasm from brightness, reflectance, or image information of the cell. 
     
     
         11 . The system according to  claim 10 , wherein the change in the area of the cytoplasm is detected by a time change rate of the area. 
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 8 , wherein the determination unit determines a difference in the change in the area of the cytoplasm dependent on a degree of senescence by causing the determination unit to learn an actually measured degree of senescence. 
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 8 , wherein the target cell is a myoblast.